Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Have never heard of
this musical instrument – ‘Ukulele’ (not that I know many other insturements !)
- is a member of the guitar family of
instruments; it generally employs four nylon or gut strings or four courses of
strings. The ukulele originated in the 19th century as a Hawaiian
interpretation of the machete.

Somewhere
in the stream, life has changed – in my school days were people joining,
working and retiring from small shops and Private companies – job hopping was
not much – people might not have earned high – but retired and spent their
lives peacefully .... compare to the modern times – people talk of retirement
at a young age (burnouts !) – dream of leading a life of leisure – not many
succeed in doing so – either because their savings are not enough; savings have
vanished; not properly saved or needs not properly calculated. – and clearly
even for those retirees, there is no succour from inflation and tax payment. Added
to this is the hanging sword of ever increasing cost of medical treatment.

A sinecure (from
Latin sine = "without" and cura = "care") means an office
that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active
service. Sinecures have historically provided a potent tool for governments or
monarchs to distribute patronage, while recipients are able to store up titles
and easy salaries. A sinecure can also be given to an individual whose primary
job is in another office, but requires a sinecure title to perform that job. For some there is easy life (of getting salary
and other perks in employment which may not require much of hard
work)..........

Bureaucrats often get
plum posts – post-retirement and perhaps they aren't the only ones to continue
in government post-retirement. Of the 21 judges to have retired from the
Supreme Court since January 2008, 18 got jobs in different government
commissions and tribunals. A majority still continue in these positions. –
wrote Indian Express way back in 2012……. Today, there is shock and dismay … Justice
Katju, who is currently chairman of the Press Council, has levelled allegations
that cannot but show the higher judiciary in poor light. The only
interpretation one can give to his claims is that the CJI of 2004 was willing
to bow to political pressure to keep the UPA in power, even going to the extent
of allowing an allegedly corrupt judge to remain in office and ultimately even
promoting him. Justice Katju's blog is
likely to create a storm because it raises questions about the independence
and/or integrity of at least three former Supreme Court chief justices - CJI RC
Lahoti, who okayed the extension to the additional judge in Tamil Nadu, who was
said to be favoured by a key UPA ally from Tamil Nadu. This ally can only be
the DMK, for in 2004 the DMK was part of UPA-1 and critical to its survival.
November 2004 was when Katju became Chief Justice of the Madras High Court.

Next time you fuming at how
inefficient most government offices in India are and wonder some of its
employees even landed those jobs, Kerala has an answer for you. According to an
article on The Times of India, the Combined Graduate Level Exam conducted by
the Staff Selection Commission thought it was appropriate for aspiring public
servants to know who is the tallest among Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone, Huma
Qureshi and Preity Zinta?

Given that these women are mostly
spotted in stilettos, answering the question, you can say, needs sharp
deduction skills. The writer, Sukanya Satyan wryly notes, "Well, I ruled
out Preity right away but the remaining three posed a problem. Maybe the guys answering
the test, with a keener eye for vital stats, had a better chance of answering
the question but I, for one, was ruing the fact I didn't watch the bikini
scenes — remember that paparazzi photo of Katrina and actor Ranbir Kapoor on a
beach holiday — more closely. Bare feet, unlike stilettos, hardly lie."

However, that was not the only
absurdity in the paper. There was also a question in the logical reasoning
section which asked the following: "All women are cats. Second: All cats
are rats. Therefore the two possible conclusions are: (a) All women are rats or
(b) All rats are women."Interesting
to say the least ….

Concluding with a
news from California, that a 97-year-old man was evicted from his retirement
center in Napa, California and he claims it's because he played the ukulele too
much. An anonymous donor helped Jim Farrell, 97, find a new home after being
thrown out by Redwood Retirement Center with no place to go but the homeless
shelter.